With the average mortgage rate near 6%, US homebuyers are looking at the most affordable monthly payments in a year. But San Antonio real estate agent Tavyn Weyman knows how to get them lower — much lower. The trick is simple: buy new. In markets across the US, homebuilders sitting on unsold inventory are subsidizing […]
Homebuilders bet on 1% mortgage rates to wake up U.S. buyers Read More »
Confidence among US homebuilders rose this month by the most since early 2024, boosted by lower mortgage rates that are chipping away at the nation’s affordability problem. An index of market conditions from the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo increased 5 points in October to 37, the highest since April. A value
US homebuilder sentiment rises by most since 2024 Read More »
The US is now collecting tariffs on imported timber, lumber, kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and upholstered furniture, duties that threaten to raise the cost of renovations and deter new home purchases. The import taxes — initially set at 25% for cabinets, vanities and upholstered wooden furniture — officially took effect on Tuesday at 12:01 a.m.
Trump’s lumber tariffs take hold, threatening to hike home costs Read More »
President Donald Trump and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte are fueling a deeper selloff in already struggling homebuilder stocks. A series of social media posts, from the US president over the weekend and then from the FHFA director and real estate scion Pulte on Wednesday, are helping put an S&P gauge of builders
Lagging builder stocks face new worry from Bill Pulte’s ire Read More »
Bill Pulte, the head of the oversight agency for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, signaled that he will be taking steps to follow up on President Trump’s call for them to put a new focus on home construction companies. One step will involve tracking megabuilders’ business, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Pulte indicated in an
Pulte hints at how Fannie, Freddie may spur builder activity Read More »
Minority homebuilding businesses grew noticeably in the years after the Great Financial Crisis, but their share still lags when compared to the total population of people of color in the U.S., new analysis finds. The percentage of newly established minority-owned homebuilders more than doubled between pre-crisis 2007 and 2022 from 6% to 14%, according to
Growth of minority builders collides with policy rollback Read More »
A borrower today needs an annual income of just over $90,000 to comfortably afford what is now a nationwide record-high median priced home, according to Attom. That price rose to $375,000 in the third quarter, the property analytics firm said Thursday. Attom based affordability on what it takes to achieve a front-end debt-to-income ratio of
Median priced home requires an income close to six figures Read More »
When it comes to the mortgage impact of Compass’ purchase of Anywhere Real Estate, Rate comes out as a big winner thanks to the joint ventures it has with both companies. The Rate/Anywhere JV, Guaranteed Rate Affinity, was formed in 2017, when what was then known as Realogy teamed up with the lender after ending
Rate gets mortgage benefit of Compass-Anywhere deal Read More »
Housing starts in the U.S. fell last month to the lowest since May, as bloated home inventory slowed builders’ appetites to boost production. New residential construction decreased 8.5% last month to an annualized rate of 1.31 million homes, government data released Wednesday showed. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economist was for 1.37
Housing starts fall to lowest since May in broad decline Read More »
Angus Mordant/Bloomberg Mortgage applications for new-home purchases remain up on a yearly basis, but August marked a notable fall from the summer’s first two months, new industry data showed. New-home purchase activity rose 1% compared with last year, but applications decreased by 6% from July, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Builder Application Survey. August’s
New-home mortgage applications slow after two-month surge Read More »